<P><B>Ricochet Dance - 'House of Magnet'/'The Enigma of Machine'</B><P>In this programme, this dancer-led company features work by Stephen Petronio and Gary Carter. <P>Here are the calendar details from the <A HREF="http://www.danceumbrella.co.uk/menu.htm" TARGET=_blank><B>Dance Umbrella website</B></A>. Click on the coloured dates for programme information and on the venue name for theatre details.<P>Here is a link to our existing <A HREF="http://www.criticaldance.com/ubb/Forum5/HTML/000106.html" TARGET=_blank><B><BR>thread on Ricochet</B></A> with a review of their most recent programme. <P><BR><p>[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited September 22, 2001).]

<B>RICOCHET DANCE COMPANY: INVOLVING RISK</B><P>WHO: RICOCHET DANCE COMPANY <BR>WHEN: MON 29 - TUE 30 OCOTBER <BR>WHERE: THE PLACE THEATRE <BR>TICKETS: 020 7387 0031<P><BR>Ricochet, founded and run by dancers Kate Gowar and Karin Potisk, will be twelve years old this autumn. Its methods are unique in that the two women, in consultation with three fellow performers, ask choreographers to make new dances specifically for them. "It's daunting and exciting to be approached by dancers," says Gowar. "Normally it works the other way around: a choreographer has a project in mind and collects dancers for it."<P>Ricochet's approach brings problems, Potisk admits. "People wonder what we do, and why. "You're so-and-so's company," they'll say, and I go, "No, we're working with that person this year." Company methods often entail research and development sessions with potential choreographers. Held over a period of days or weeks, these enable the dancers and the dance-maker to get to know each other and, as Gowar puts it, "see if further dialogue is possible." Shobana Jeyasingh, whose eponymous company has been in previous Umbrellas, is the most recent participant in this process.<P>With four pieces for them under his belt, Russell Maliphant (whose company is part of Umbrella 2001) is leader of the pack of choreographers Ricochet has invited in. Others on an impressive roster include Nigel Charnock, Ben Craft, Javier De Frutos, Neil Greenberg, Rosemary Lee, Phelim McDermott, Wayne McGregor, La Ribot and Yolande Snaith. This autumn sees the return of Gary Carter and Umbrella veteran Stephen Petronio, each of whom has worked with Ricochet before. The result will be a programme of sharp contrasts, showcasing the company's range via both strong movement and heightened theatricality.<P>"We felt slightly unresolved with Stephen," Gowar remembers. "We worked with him for such a seductively short time [three weeks]." The result was a fifteen-minute explosion (her word) entitled Fetch Boy and Fox. "By the time Stephen left I was feeling, "Oh, this is where it begins." His unrelenting energy and curiosity are infectious. He's excited not just about pushing what the body can do, but about people and the connections between them." Petronio's new piece, to be created this summer, will probably last about half an hour.<P>Carter's The Enigma of Sin already exists. Gowar regards it as "quite a departure for us. It's not fast, furious dancing but a strong, smart theatrical work based on metaphor and symbolism. It has a religious sense to it in that it's very painterly, with a luminosity. Gary collected images for us like tableaux." The 45-minute work concerns the fall from grace, with Ricochet's dancers cast as archetypal figures. Gowar describes God (embodied by Anna Williams) as a speaking, omnipotent shape-shifter and Lucifer (Potisk) as a flashily-dressed, misunderstood enigma unfairly relegated to the shadows. Also present are the Archangel Michael (David Waring), a bouncer; the baby Jesus (Ben Wright), dressed like a ventriloquist's dummy; and Eve (Gowar), an innocent who grows up and, essentially, leaves home.<P>"Only a dance company could perform it," claims Potisk, "although it's not a dance-dance piece." Gowar's description is more rhapsodic. "It's a humorous, peculiar, wonderful epic, very ambiguous and open-ended. It leaves question marks all the way through." The potentially unifying identification point for audiences? "Gary talked about these characters belonging to a family."<P>In its way Ricochet, too, is like a family. Williams is the longest-standing member, involved virtually since the conception. Waring's next, with 7 years. That makes Wright, who joined about 18 months ago, the nominal 'baby.' But Ricochet isn't a handful of kids. The company age range is 33 to 38. And, as Gowar sees it, "We're a collective of dancers with a maturing sense of experience. We know more about what we want as we get older. At the same time, we still want to challenge ourselves in realms we're excited about exploring."<P>But how do they determine which realm to explore? 'We discuss where we are as a group," she explains, "and crystallise where each person is individually. If we're lucky there's a general concensus. But Karin and I have the casting vote. It can be quite a challenge. We're all very strong-willed. It's very important to hold those strong wills, because Ricochet is the dancers. That's why we feel different from most other companies, with people coming in and out and the changes rung more often."<P>"The dancers' in-put is crucial," Potisk elaborates. "It's in our interests to do things that interest all of us, to make Ricochet a place where people are happy to stay. We've not shot up like a bright star on the night sky. It can actually be more difficult to sustain something, to grow slowly and organically. Of course there's always a risk involved. We now have a manager, adminstrator and technical manager, but we're still a small organisation. We're trying to follow our instincts as we expand, but in quality and depth rather than size."<P>Gowar mentions how 'up' Petronio was about working with Ricochet again. "Not just to to bring his material to us," she clarifies, "but to see where we're going." Where might that be? "The road unfolds," Gowar replies, resorting to metaphor. "Some people do get frustrated with our ability to say, 'Wait and see.'"<P><BR><P>------------------<BR>This interview was posted by Stuart Sweeney on behalf of Donald Hutera.<P>Donald Hutera writes regularly on dance and arts for The Times, Evening Standard, Time Out, Dance Europe, Dance Magazine (US) and Dance Now. He is co-author, with Allen Robertson, of The Dance Handbook.<P>This interview first appeared in either the Spring or Autumn 2001 editions of Dance Umbrella News. <BR> <BR>Join Dance Umbrella's mailing list to receive future editions of Dance Umbrella News. <BR>Call: 020 8741 5881 <BR>Email: mail@danceumbrella.co.uk <BR>Web: <A HREF="http://www.danceumbrella.co.uk" TARGET=_blank>www.danceumbrella.co.uk</A>

_________________This interview was posted by Stuart Sweeney on behalf of Donald Hutera and first appeared in Dance Umbrella News.

Donald Hutera writes regularly on dance and arts for The Times, Evening Standard, Time Out, Dance Europe, Dance Magazine (US) and Dance Now. He is co-author, with Allen Robertson, of The Dance Handbook.

<B>Doubles: Ricochet Dance Company</B><BR>Rating: 1* out of 3<BR>by Luke Jennings in The Evening Standard<P><BR>Ricochet was founded in 1989 by Karin Fisher-Potisk and Kate Gowar, who trained together at the London School of Contemporary Dance, and the company's raison d'être is to seek out and commission choreographers working at the evolving edge of contemporary dance. <P>The first piece in their two-part programme is House of Magnet by Stephen Petronio. To the sound of thunder - electric fury - the company are revealed in transparent, matte-black shirts, as if draped in iron filings. <P><A HREF="http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/dynamic/hottx/theatre/top_dance_review.html?in_review_id=407411&in_review_text_id=423631" TARGET=_blank><B>click for more</B></A>

<B>Donald Hutera reviews Ricochet Dance Company, The Place, WC1 for The Times</B><BR> <BR> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>As should the five members of Britain’s Ricochet Company for having survived a radically different double-bill at The Place. US choreographer Stephen Petronio kept them on a sleek boil in the dark, calorie-burning House of Magnet. Clad in chic, semi-transparent black, the quintet lunged and plunged to David Hinton’s batteringly percussive music like a single driven entity. This dance of pure sensation suits Ricochet in a way that Gary Carter’s The Enigma of Sin, a failed conjuring trick about loss of innocence, does not. The good elements (Kathryn Locke’s live music, dancer Anna Williams’s intriguing turn as God) fell victim to the material’s arch preciosity and drawn-out pacing. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> <P><A HREF="http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,62-2001375244,00.html" TARGET=_blank><B>more...</B></A><P><p>[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited November 01, 2001).]

From The Independent<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>The players look interesting as they walk on stage, one by one, at the beginning of Gary Carter's new ballet The Enigma of Sin. There is the woman in a black minidress, stockings and shoes; another in a long red frock with bare feet, and so on. But these, I have to tell you, are the musicians, five in all, and once they have taken their places in a big half circle they stay put. Sometimes, during the performance, I thought they had the best of it.<P><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/theatre/dance/reviews/story.jsp?story=102495" TARGET=_blank> <B> <BR>MORE </B> </A>

Review in The Observer<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Ricochet's new piece from Stephen Petronio, House of Magnet, is fraught with catastrophe. A cluster of black-clad dancers clings together like iron filings. Their interlinked movements seem an abstract device until the emotional weight of their huddle bears home. They are in thrall of horror, hands over mouths, aghast. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://www.observer.co.uk/review/story/0,6903,587055,00.html" TARGET=_blank> <B> MORE </B> </A>

Please consider my Dance Umbrella reviews for the New Reviewer's Competition. I am eligable for the Competition and agree to be bound by the rules. The e-mail address given with my registration is still operative.<P>Ricochet Dance Company<BR>The Place, London<BR>Monday 29 – Tuesday 30 October 2001 <P>The House of Magnet’s Enigmatic Sin<P>by Wendy Steatham<P><BR>In this double-bill, Ricochet Dance Company’s method of inviting different choreographers to create works for them has highlighted their talent and vivacity.<P>House of Magnet, choreographed by Stephen Petronio is powerful and intense. Magnetism is the theme of the choreography and while the five dancers seem to portray iron filings, the clustered shape that dominates their spatial arrangement resembles a magnet. Accordingly, the dancers, like electrons in the metal, spin around, quickly and close together. As they move around the stage in this way, with limbs shooting out fast and at random, excitement and danger like an electric current, is produced. <P>Although the dancers follow their line of force reluctantly, at times it appears that the magnet is taken past its limit. Its power is lost and the dancers separate. Dave Waring takes the first solo, which is danced with beautiful but strong precision. Several short solos and duets are performed, however the dancers always come back to the cluster. Moments of unison that occur between the dancers are particularly powerful and this is often shown with certain movements performed on different levels or with different body parts. The iron filings appear to line up, attracted by another magnetic force. <P>The sound score, in addition, is percussive and seems to represent thunder, as the static electricity produces threatening bangs and crashes.<P>The attracting and repelling, closeness and bond of the performers, on a different level, may be highlighting some kind of social integration. What is clear, however, is that the work enhances the company’s close relationship and affinity. <P>In contrast to the energetic movement that dominated House of Magnet, Gary Carter’s The Enigma of Sin is a theatrical piece.<P>Anna Williams is the first to appear. She represents God in this Old Testament spoof. Wearing a red dressing gown, she addresses the audience with such lines as ‘Ladies and Gentlespoons, Toys and Girls,’ which sets a rather comical, if not ridiculous mood. David Waring is introduced as the angel Michael, wearing a glittery suit and sunglasses, seemingly portraying a heavenly hard-man. God explains that Michael will perform tricks. He rather unimpressively cuts a piece of rope in two with scissors, before God ties and gags him. A blackout follows, leaving the audience confused, though perhaps enjoying the unusual nonsense. <P>Karin Fischer-Potisk appears wearing a gold bodice and red baggy trousers as the fiery and glitzy Lucifer, while Kate Gower as Eve, wears a short dress and bare feet, showing her innocence and vulnerability. Ben Wright as Jesus, resembles a young ventriloquist’s dummy, his voice coming from God, who, by now is wearing a see-through body suit and is moving through religious positions and balances.<P>More ridiculous situations follow. The characters put an oboe together then dismantle it, Michael pulls stars from his pocket and Jesus holds a talking clanger toy. Tinsel represents an intestine, as the work appears like a pantomime, almost making a mockery of religion. <P>A serious layer is obvious however. As Eve grows up there is an intense and sexual moment between her and Lucifer, as the devil entices her. The music is also rather sombre, with clever effects played faultlessly by the musicians. <P>The piece highlights the curiosity of religion and as such the audience members are able to either make various interpretations or just enjoy the performance. This unique work, for a similar company certainly makes a refreshing change and proves Ricochet’s diversity and excitement.<P>

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